News Roundup: President Obama Thinks Young People Should Worry Less About Weed…AND MORE

The legalization of marijuana has been a hot topic lately, and President Barack Obama has decided to publicly share his thoughts concerning the issue. During a recent interview with VICE, the president suggested that young people should be focusing on the larger issues that affect our country — like climate change and the economy — rather than being concerned with the legalization of marijuana. President Obama did, however, discuss how marijuana has had a huge impact on criminalization: “I’d separate out the issue of the criminalization of marijuana from encouraging its use. I think there is no doubt that our criminal justice system generally is so heavily skewed towards cracking down on non-violent drug offenders that it has not just had a terrible effect on many communities, particularly communities of color, rendering a lot of folks unemployable because they got felony records. It costs a huge a lot of money for states.” Read more.

Virginia Sixth-Grader Wrongfully Accused of Marijuana Possession

At the beginning of this year, a sixth-grader who attended Bedford Middle School in Virginia was suspended for a year after his assistant principal discovered something that resembled a marijuana leaf in his backpack. Following the incident, the student was charged with marijuana possession in juvenile court, was removed from his school, and had to be homeschooled for a while. As a result, he became depressed and frequently experienced panic attacks. And now, despite his traumatizing experience, authorities are claiming that the leaf discovered in his bag wasn’t marijuana. He was allowed to return to a new school today. The school policies in that district are being scrutinized. Read more.

Penn State Fraternity in Hot Water After Posting Photos of Nude Women

Fraternities at major universities have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. The Kappa Delta Rho fraternity at Penn State has found themselves in hot water after it was discovered they made a secret Facebook page where they posted photos of nude women who were either sleeping or passed out. The page had nearly 150 members – both current students and alumni. Police officials have joined forces with the Penn State Office of Student Conduct and the IFC. Read more.